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Tuesday, 10 January 2012

Visit to the Museum of London

Hi all!I am supposed to be crafting something but as I cant decide where to start (too many projects!), I thought I'd tell you all about my weekend :) Hope you dont mind!

After spending a fun evening on Friday with a friend from work who was having her leaving party, I was very much in a London mood the next day. But what to do? Strangely enough, Facebook came to the rescue! I found a post about a book called 'Tired of London, tired of life' which I thought was a very striking title. After some googling I realised that this book had only been out for a short time but was sold out virtually everywhere! Again, FB came to the rescue as someone posted that the Museum of London sold copies. Excellent :) So off I went. I figured I may as well visit the (conveniently free) museum at the same time for some inspiration.

Something that never clicked... before the Great Fire of London in 1666, THIS is what St Paul's Cathedral looked like! I never realised that it used to be pointy :)

Through the medieval section I found this 'try me on' hood. Cool huh! ;)

I also saw this mockup of a normal house in London. You see, each room which was then really just a room, is now an APARTMENT! So one building which used to have servants and cooks and the rich owners, now has about 8 families living in it. It was intriguing to see what it would have looked like back in the day.

I also saw this dress that was worn by Ann Fanshawe in 1751 as the Lady Mayoresse of the City of London. This is a big dress! Complete photo can be found here. The detail in it was stunning.

Some more detail of the sleeves.

I spent a LOT of time in the Pleasure Garden where there were many mannequins in gorgeous clothes. Yes, I did take several photos of each outfit but I dont want to make this post too photo heavy. They were all amazing though!

For one, I loved this 1760s hat. Such detail! I saw someone wear something like this once (yes really) but somehow the detail got lost on account of it being a hat. Not entirely sure this would happen here too, but somehow I doubt it ;)

This costume gave me an idea on what to do with all those fabric scraps. I could make something like this but in a dress. What do you think, would it look nice? Not for everyday wear of course. Costume people, costume! ;)

This was also gorgeous, the hat really finishes it. Is anyone else thinking Royal Wedding? ;) It is actually a dress from 1823 which was part of the clothing of a bride.

A little further on, I found this Victorian tailor shop. No sewing machine but the rest was surely there!

Including this 'West End Plate of Men's Fashions'. You can really see the different styles that were fashionable at the time. I loved it :)

Then it was off to the 1900s. Taxi anyone?

This dress just said 'Dress with Chinese embroidered panels' but it looks really nice. I think I might use this as inspiration someday. It is from 1912.

This gorgeous wedding dress was worn in 1910 by someone named Minnie Long. The sewing machine is from 1876, and the jacket was from around the same time and was classed as the main design for boy jackets at the time.

LOVE this dress! So Twiggy!

70s display. Ok I admit it, I am a hippy!

I LOVE this dress. I will definitely try to recreate this. I think it's a plain pillowdress but a little longer and a tad more waisted. Any suggestions anyone? I dont have this exact fabric, but I do have some very hippy fabric lying around that would be perfect for this :)

The last item I saw in the museum was this carriage. It is used to carry the Lord Mayor through London in November every year, and is originally 250 years old. I photographed the text card next to it ;)

Of course, as the Museum of London was just off St Paul's Cathedral, I had to make a stop at Bea's of Bloomsbury and buy some (a lot!) cupcakes. I actually got lost walking there, oops! But in the end I found it after buying a purple strap at the Watch shop (finally!) and joking with the staff who didnt know BoB which was just on the other side of the building! Anyway, one raspberry vanilly cupcake, one double chocolate fudge cupcake, and four (yes 4!) red velvet cupcakes. Mmm, so good!

Afterwards on the way home I dropped by the sushi place to buy some fish to make sushi for the bf (pics will follow also), and made the mistake of going into Primark on Marble Arch. OMG Never Again! I literally fled the shop as there were too many people!

That last bit was definitely the last straw and I went home exhausted but pleased to have seen something new in London. Now I have to read my book and find some more things to do :) Oh yes which reminds me, the link: Tired of London, Tired of Life: One Thing A Day To Do in London. I've already found several things to do next weekend. Try it, I hope you'll like it too!

1 comment:

Our strange neighbor adores cats and had them everywhere in her house. As if the dozen live cats were not enough, in every room in her house, she has framed prints, large and small, of the blessed animals.0She says that she orders her canvas prints, like this one http://en.wahooart.com/A55A04/w.nsf/OPRA/BRUE-8BWPVF by Franz Marc, from wahooart.com who delivers them. Perhaps they can take away a cat or two as well.